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Apologies for my disappearance of late…we had a few ‘technical’ problems with our broadband connection in our new house so we’ve with without the internet for a few days!!

Wow, it’s Wednesday already…where has the week gone!!

Our house move went really well, we are SO happy with our new home!! I’d put all my trust in James and agreed to get a house solely based on his recommendation so even though I trust him I was slightly nervous of what it was going to be like. He did well!! It’s a really good size, with 3 double bedrooms, a really nice open kitchen diner and a large lounge dining room as well, in a great location (it took me 15minutes to walk to Starbucks in the centre of town yesterday!), 5 minutes walk from what will be my new uni in September and walking distance to both our gym and the cinema…what more could a girl want!!

I popped into Starbucks yesterday to have a chat with the manager there and I start this morning!! I mentioned before, I was coffee master at my last store and so she wants me to go in this morning just for a couple of hours to set up a coffee tasting table!!….heaven!

My parents came down for the long weekend with my brother and sister to help us get more organised in the house (James, my Dad and Brother did ‘man jobs’ and my Mum, Sister and me went ‘house shopping’!!) which was great, they have gone on holiday for a few days so have left us with this little man;

isn’t he the cutest thing you’ve seen!!!

Apparently this is my Dads ‘plan’ to put us off getting our own…it seems to be backfiring though and making us want one more (or me anyway ;)!)

One of the first things we did when I got down here (after unpacking) was join the gym. We’ve both become members of DWfitness, I’ve really been looking forward to being able to go to a gym which does real Les Mills classes and went yesterday morning, to my first BodyPump class, since I’ve lived back in the UK (which is 2.5yrs now!!) WOW it was good, I was definitely feeling the burn, and WOW am I sore today!!

I was planing to head to the sauna and then for a shower but I was feeling quite shaky by the end so I decided to head straight home and whip up a protein smoothie involving, banana, milk, whey, cocoa and a handful of spinach….

…so tasty!

So I’m off to work this morning then plan to do some home organisation, walk the dog and I think we’re planning to play squash with some friends tonight 🙂

Following on from my before and after pics of downstairs, I thought it would be good to show you upstairs as well..

Main bedroom before..

and after…

Second bedroom before…

and after…

So that was our 1st project!! I would love for James and me to do another house or 2 in the next couple of years, money permitting! At the moment we’re scrimping and saving just to live and get by so maybe when business starts moving for him and I graduate and get a real job again…I can’t wait for that 1st paycheck!!

This weekends has mainly been packing (the house no longer looks like it does in these photos!). I’ve been feeling quite under the weather, lethargic and generally down.

Since I’ve been feeling under the weather, last week I didn’t go to any of my usual gym classes but I wasn’t feeling any better so on Friday I thought maybe I need to move, thats why I’m feeling rubbish so decided to do an online yoga class I do quite regularly and usually enjoy, but half an hour in I was shaking and just couldn’t hold my body up in any of the poses! very frustrating!!

I think its been a combination of tiredness, the weather, stress and generally spending too much time just at home alone, I’d really like to think its my hormones coming back but so far there’s no sign of them.

Thankfully though my Mum and Dad came up yesterday and made me go out with them, just for a coffee down the road and it did me the world of good. I felt much better mentally afterwards and managed to get to the gym for step this morning…I got through it but despite having my step on the lowest level I still struggled to keep up, and my arms were aching all the way through…not sure whats going on with my body but I am trying my best to honour it and go with what it needs :)…making progress!!

Breakfast this morning is a repeat of Friday’s, the old faithful avocado on toast + coffee.

As you can see in the background, I’ve been busy packing…good job really seeing as I had a call from my removal man last night, asking if he could collect Wednesday morning (instead of Thursday) to deliver Thursday in Ipswich as it’s such a long drive. That works well for me because it means I can drive down Wednesday, James and I can go and get the keys and be pretty organised (unusual for me!!) on Thursday. It also means though that I feel slightly panicky as I have 3 lab reports to hand in on Thursday and lots of errands to run between now and then!!

Good news is…the sun is SHINING!! I’m off to meet my Mum and Dad for coffee before my Dad comes to help me with man jobs like taking down lights 😉

Well last August I bought a house with my parents to renovate and live in. We’d talked about doing for quite a long time but they lived in Italy and I had just started university and to be honest I wasn’t really healthy enough; mentally or physically to attempt such a task. As the university year started coming to an end though, I was in a much better place and so started looking around Liverpool for properties that were in need of some TLC. Given the economic situation in the UK, I knew if we were going to do it we needed to be smart, really do our research and make sure there was potential to make some good money!

I started driving out of the city centre to more residential parts of town and getting a feel for the different areas…checking out local amenities, parks, schools etc. After a few weeks of doing this I made some phone calls to estate agents and booked to see as many houses as I could with an aim of seeing what was out there and what value for money looked like…I saw so many I couldn’t possible tell you an exact number but it was a lot!! I was pretty fed up of it after a few weeks…especially trying to keep up good communication with my Mum and Dad via Skype who were living in Italy and obviously wanted to be sure their money would be invested well…I suppose given the fact it was the first time I’d seriously looked at properties (and I’m not really one for creativity!!) they were a little cautious and nervous of both my descriptions and perceptions of how much potential different houses had (being a newbie and all that 😉 !!).

Anyway…eventually I found a lovely little area, close to a beautiful park, a good school, with easy to access shops and a great street of urban café’s and restaurants within walking distance…perfect for young professional people (like myself ;)). I decided it would be a really good area to sell in and set on a mission to find a house that needed some work (but not TOO much) that I could live in and renovate at the same time…and so I found…

I moved in at the end of August 2012 and with lots of hard work and help from my amazing Mum we managed to transform the place and we sold it after 1 week on the market for more than the asking price…result!!

I will be posting some before and after pics throughout this week…I hope you enjoy!!

For now though, breakfast this morning…

I fancied a change this morning so opted for greek yogurt with a (hidden) blob of flax peanut butter topped with granola…mixing things up a bit 🙂

I just had a horrible experience though, what felt like some kind of allergic reaction… I got all hot and came out in a bright red, burning rash all over my upper body…